The Assistant and The Green Doctor
by Sutcliff23
Summary: When Tony's personal assistant as well as girlfriend goes to start the Stark Industries in Australia she gets him a new assistant, much to Tony's dismay. Bruce for his sake and the 'Other Guy's' tries to stay out of the way as much as possible with less than expectant results and winds up falling for the young assistant. BruceandOC. TonyandPepper (Other Avengers will be present)
1. Prologue

**Prologue:**

"Good morning Tony. Doctor Banner." Pepper Potts announced as she walked into the kitchen, she was followed close behind by a younger girl.

"Good morning Pepper. Who is this lovely young lady?" Tony Stark asked his personal assistant while handing his longtime friend a cup of tea. Doctor Bruce Banner accepted the tea and nodded in agreement with Tony.

"This is Nicolette Brit. She is going to be filling in for me." She answered.

"It really is such an honor to be working for the Tony Stark and Dr. Banner." the younger girl said, while Tony eyed her casually.

"Pepper, a word." he answered pulling the red head to the side. "I don't remember you mentioning a replacement personal assistant."

"Tony, it's just while I'm gone. She has a great resume, her back ground check was thorough and clean." Pepper replied.

"But what about-"

"She knows about Dr. Banner's personal issue and she is fine. Everything will be fine Tony." Pepper reassures him.

"Fine. But the minute there is a mess up I get to fire her." He muttered.

"Well if you'll excuse us gentleman. I need to give Nicolette the rest of the tour." Pepper told them as she led her out.

Bruce looked over at his friend who was staring after them as they disappeared from sight. He raised an eyebrow as he turned around to face him.

"What?" He asked.

"You're not ready to let Pepper go are you?" Bruce asked.

Tony sighed and nodded. "She was the best damn personal assistant and it's just…I don't want her to leave." He answered.

"Awe Tony. It's okay to feel sad." Bruce told him while patting him on the back. "Besides, her replacement Nicolette doesn't seem too bad."

"That's what you think." Tony says.

"I'm going to go work in the lab." Bruce told him while raising his coffee mug in salute before going downstairs. Tony nodded to his friend who was already gone and finished off the rest of his coffee.

"JARVIS. Bring up the security camera's." He said.

"Yes sir." The AI replied.

Tony sat down on the bar stool and watched as Pepper showed the girl around. She was showing her all the extra rooms, and of course Tony's room and the bathrooms.

"JARVIS could you turn on the volume?"

"Of course sir." He answered.

"Tony can be a bit of a handful but I'm sure there won't be any problems." Pepper tells her.

"I really appreciate this Pepper." Nicolette says to her. "Really this means a lot."

"It's no problem Nicolette. To tell you the truth. I trust you more around him then I do some of the other applicants."

"Well either way, you have a basket of homemade muffins coming your way before you leave."

They shared a laugh before continuing on with the tour.

"JARVIS. See what you can find on Nicolette Brit and send it to my lab." Tony said turning off the security camera screen. He finished off his coffee and placed it in the sink before retreating to his own lab.

* * *

"Tony, you can't stay in your lab forever." Pepper said.

"How did you get in? I changed the password." He replied, glancing up from his suit.

"Bruce told me." she answered. "Who, by the way, is showing Nicolette the rest of the labs while you and I have a talk."

Tony sighed. "Can this wait? I'm a little busy." He told her.

"No, Tony. We talked about this, you said that you would be okay with it." she said moving to sit on the open stool.

"But that was before you hired a replacement Pepper. You're not leaving permanently are you?" he asked.

"Tony. I'll be the head of the new Stark Industries in Australia. I'll still come to visit you but I won't be able to be your assistant, which is why Nicolette will be your new one. Just give her a chance Tony." She told him.

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You'll be fine Tony. And I will be here for a few more weeks to make sure she gets all settled in, okay?"

Tony nodded and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm just going to miss you so much." He whispered.

She smiled and patted his head. "You're the famous Tony Stark. You will be fine. I promise" She replied.

* * *

Author's note: Hi so um this is my first Avengers fic so please don't be brutal. thanks to , my beta editor and i hope you enjoyed the first chapter


	2. Chapter 1: The First Day

Chapter 1: First Day

Nicolette fidgeted with the ends of her shirt as she and Pepper made their way to the living quarters of the former Stark and now Avengers tower.

"Stop messing with your shirt. You look fine." Pepper assured her.

"Are you sure this breakfast thing is a good idea?" Bruce asked Tony as they waited for Pepper and Nicolette to arrive. "I mean, a breakfast, at a restaurant, with people who know who I am."

"Look, it wasn't my idea Brucey. Pepper wants all to have a nice breakfast so that we can all get to know each other better." Tony replied fixing his tie in the mirror. "It'll be over in a couple hours then we can go back to our labs."

Both scientists straightened at the sound of approaching footsteps. Or rather a pair of heels on hardwood floor.

"Ah good. You're both up and dressed." Pepper said, before Tony pulled her into a good morning kiss.

"Good morning doctor Banner." Nicolette greeted.

He could tell she was nervous even if she was trying to keep her shuffling to a minimum. He gave her a small smile.

"You look nice doctor Banner. New clothes?" Pepper asked as they got on the elevator.

"Tony decided to ambush me this morning." He answered.

"And you look nice. See, I think of that as an accomplishment." Tony replied.

Bruce rolled his eyes and remained silent. Pepper and Nicolette began to talk amongst each other quietly leaving Tony to fiddle with his phone. He couldn't help but turn his attention back to Nicolette.

She had to be in her early twenties, twenty two at the youngest. She had short curly dark brown hair that stopped at her shoulders, a few strands curling under her ears, olive toned skin with a beauty mark on the corner of her right eye along with deep blue colored eyes. Almost like a deep blue rosette…

Bruce looked away just as quickly as he had been looking as the elevator doors slid open and they all stepped off. Tony tucked his phone away into his pocket casting a glance at Nicolette before taking the lead with Bruce.

* * *

"So…Nicolette. Pepper tells me that you graduated from Cornell University." Tony says.

"Yes sir." she replied. "I graduated last year."

"What did you study?" He asked.

"I majored in business and culinary, and also took psychology courses as well as radiology." She answered.

He nodded and took a sip of the scotch in his hand.

"Tony what are you doing?" Pepper asked.

"Just getting to know my new assistant. Is there a law against that?" Tony answered innocently. Pepper sighed, picking up her coffee.

"What's your family life like?" Tony asked her.

"If it's alright that is something I would rather not talk about." Nicolette answered.

Bruce tapped his fingers on his knees, a nervous tick he has been trying to get over. He looked around, trying to focus on something settling for the menu that is lying in front of him.

"I think I'm going to order pancakes." He announces, changing the subject.

"I thought you were trying to watch your girlish figure?" Tony mocked before downing the rest of his scotch. Then he stands up, straightening his tie.

"I feel like another drink. Pepper, why don't you join me? Bruce, be a dear and just order anything that comes with bacon for me." Tony took Pepper by the hand and they disappeared to the bar. Bruce sighed and picked up his tea and changed his mind motioning the waiter over and order coffee.

"Don't read too much into it. Tony pry's into everyone's lives." Bruce says, catching Nicolette's attention. "Its part of the charm, I guess."

She smiles a little. "Yes, Pepper warned me." She replies.

"How do you know Pepper anyway?" He asked.

"We met a few years ago at a coffee shop actually. I was studying for my midterms and was so hyped up on caffeine that I accidently spilled my coffee all over her shoes. We wound up talking for a couple hour, ands after that she helped me with my midterm and we became fast friends." She answers. Bruce nods his head. Tony and Pepper both return a few moments later, as does the waiter who took their order and the conversation soon turned to a new topic.

"I hope you send me some of your muffins while I'm gone." Pepper told Nicolette.

"Muffins?" Tony asked.

"Mhmm. Nicolette makes some of the best muffins I've had in New York." Pepper answered. "Though it's not surprising. Everything she bakes turns out delicious."

"They're just muffins Pepper. Nothing special." Nicolette shrugs as she takes a sip of her coffee.

"Which reminds me, you have a meeting with your tailor after lunch Tony. Doctor Banner, would you be able to show Nicolette around the rest of the tower?" Pepper asks kindly.

"Sure, no problem." He agrees.

She smiled. "Great. You don't mind do you Nicolette?"

"You have work to do. I'm sure we'll be fine." She answered, giving Bruce an almost shy smile.

"Great and we can all have dinner tonight." Pepper replies. "And we should get going before we are late." Pepper handed her the card to pay for lunch before ushering Tony out of the restaurant leaving Bruce and Nicolette alone together.

* * *

"This is quite some work you have here." Nicolette said as Bruce showed her some of his work. "May I ask you a question?" Bruce nods, shuffling through some other notes tidying up a bit.

"When you…-"

"Turn into a giant green monster that smashing anything in site?" Bruce supplied. She blushes and takes a seat on the empty stool.

"I was going to say turn into an alter-ego."

"Green monster sounds more adequate. But as you were saying?" He shrugs at the end of his sentence.

"What's it like? I mean, do you feel any different than you do normally?" she asks.

"Most of the time 'it' is in control and I'm just this voice in the back of 'its' head, and sometimes I try to black out most of what goes on and hope for the best when it is over." He answers.

"Doctor Banner. Miss Potts requests that you and Miss Brit join her and Mr. Stark in the kitchen." JARVIS announces.

"Thank you, JARVIS." Bruce replied. Nicolette follows him upstairs to where Pepper and Tony were debating on what to do for dinner.

"Ah there you two are!" Pepper said, smiling. "Were you able to finish the tour?" Nicolette nods.

"I should actually get going." She says.

"So soon?" Pepper asks. "Alright. Well, we'll grab coffee in the morning." The two hug and say goodbye before Pepper showed her to the door.

"So what do you think of the trainee?" Tony asked Bruce.

"She's nice." Bruce answered. "Also intelligent. You should give her a chance."

"You're taking Pepper's side on this?" Tony asked. "I thought we were Science Bro's!" Bruce refrained from rolling his eyes and drank some of his ice tea.

"I'm going back to the lab." he told him.

* * *

Author's note: Tada here is the next chapter. thank you again to my beta editor. hope you guys enjoy it


	3. Chapter 2: Science, Muffins and Baking

Chapter 2: Science, Muffins, Baking

"Man of Iron we have come at your request to assist our brother in arms." Thor announced as he and Steve walked into the lab. Bruce and Tony looked up from the shield they were analyzing as the two men stood before the desk the glasses doors sliding closed behind them.

"Who is the young woman making muffins with Miss Potts?" Steve asked taking one of the empty seats.

"Her? She'll be Pepper's replacement while she's in Australia." Tony answered off handedly. "So Cap, I figured that we could try out titanium, steel, tungsten and iridium to see which would work best with the vibraniam."

"There is quite a bit of it. How did you manage to find all this?" Steve asked.

"Brucie here has a friend in Wakanda who was kind enough to send him some." Tony answered. "We have enough to make at least a hundred or so shields."

"And what of I man of iron?" Thor asked.

"Once we have created the shields then you get to have a go at them. And if possible we'll have a guest appearance by the green doctor himself." Tony answered. "So let's get to work shall we?"

* * *

"So how are you adjusting to New York?" Pepper asks Nicolette.

"Well, my boss to be possibly doesn't like me; my closest friend is leaving for Australia for a year and the nuclear physicist that I've admired for years treats me just like I'm already Mr. Stark's personal assistant. So fairly well." Nicolette answers with a bit of sarcasm. She sighs as she continues to mix the muffin batter.

"You could be helping me with this you know."

"Oh no, I wouldn't want to be in your way." Pepper replied. Nicolette rolls her eyes but smiles at her friend.

"Doctor Banner just likes to stay out of the way of things, he doesn't like being in the way. He'll warm up to you." She replies. Nicolette wipes her hands on her apron and sighs again.

"Will you at least coat the muffin tin for me?" Pepper sets her wine glass down and starts coating the muffin tin with butter.

"Do you like doctor Banner?" Nicolette looks up.

"Why do you ask that?"

"You seem dejected that he isn't talking to you much." She answers.

"It's not that Pepper. I've just…I've admired him for so long. He is quite brilliant and his research paper's and studies are just incredible." Nicolette says. "I just want to have a conversation with him that doesn't end with 'well I have to go back to the lab'."

"You could always try winning him over with muffins." Pepper offers. Nicolette shrugs.

"I was thinking science." She says, turning on the oven.

* * *

"Hey Thor, you look upset. What's wrong?" Pepper asks as the Thunder God enters the kitchen.

"My hammer seems to have caused damage to the room of science." He answers. "What are you maidens doing?"

"Making muffins." Pepper answers.

"I'm making muffins. Pepper here is watching." Nicolette says, slightly annoyed.

"What are these muffins you speak of?" He asks curiously.

"Here, why don't you try one." Pepper hands him a blueberry muffin.

Thor takes a bite, then his eyes went as big as saucers. He finished the muffin and reached for another only to have his hand swatted with a spatula. He loos up with almost a wounded puppy look.

"Those are for after lunch and I will be damned if anyone touches them." Nicolette told him before turning to wash the dishes. When she turned around however all twenty four blueberry muffins were gone.

"Hey, don't look at me." Pepper said.

Nicolette turned her gaze to the thunder god with crumbs stuck in his beard and was whistling quite suspiciously.

"Well, seeing as we are all out of muffins, I guess I have to make some more. How would you like to help me Thor?" Nicolette asks him, even more annoyed now that she has to make more.

"But I do not know this task of making muffins." He replies.

"Well then you are going to learn. You too Pepper." Nicolette tells them both.

"Oh I just remembered that I have make sure Tony's all set for his business meeting tomorrow morning." Pepper says, giving her an apologetic look before leaving the kitchen.

Nicolette faces Thor with a smile. Thor on the other hand looked like a deer in the headlights.

"I should warn you, she's a serious baker." Pepper calls from down the hall.

* * *

Nicolette wipes flour off of her face and pats Thor's shoulder.

"At least you managed to get the flour into the mixing bowl this time."

"I am sorry maiden Nicolette. I shall help you clean up at once." He apologizes.

"It's alright Thor. Why don't you go wash up." She tells him.

He apologized again before leaving the kitchen. He flashed Pepper a smile as she entered the kitchen.

"Well what happened here?" she asks.

"We made one batch of muffins and started the second batch, Thor goes to grab the flour and poof, it rains flour." Nicolette answers. Pepper snickers at the sight of Nicolette covered in flour.

"You look like a snow angel. Literally."

Nicolette picked up a bit of flour and tossed it at Pepper only to miss and get it on Steve instead.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry!" Nicolette apologizes. She did not even realize he had entered the kitchen. "I was aiming for Pepper!"

"It's alright darlin'." He says as she hands him a towel. Nicolette sticks her tongue out at Pepper, only to get doused with flour by Steve.

"What was that for?" She asks.

"Now, it's alright." He answers with a teasing smile. Pepper laughs and Nicolette threw a handful of blueberries at her.

"There." She said wiping her hands off with a towel. "Matches your hair."

* * *

"Sir. If I may interrupt your work, there seems to be a problem in the kitchen." JARVIS tells Tony, an amusing tone replacing the robotic one.

"What seems to be the problem?" Tony asks, taking off his safety glasses.

"There seems to be a food fight in the kitchen." The AI answers.

"A food fight?" Tony frowns. "I have to go check that out. Bruce, I'll be back in a minute."

Tony punches in the code to open the doors, heading up to the kitchen. Once he arrived, he was met with a face full pie filling and silence.

"Oh. My. God. Mr. Stark I am so incredibly sorry." Nicolette apologizes for the second time in one day.

Tony scrubs a hand down his face and looked at Nicolette, then pie filling in his hand, and patted her on the head before breaking out into a grin.

"Okay. I deserved that one." Nicolette smiles at him. Tony wipes the rest of the pie filling on his hand.

"You know who else deserves a nice face full of pie? Brucie."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Steve asks.

"The green doctor may not react so well to that joke." Thor replies.

"Says the God and America's Hero covered in pink frosting. It'll be funny, what do you say?" Tony asked turning to Nicolette. "You got anything good?"

"Well I have some left over muffin mix and blueberries." She offers, a slight smile on her lips.

"Great." Tony says, clapping his hands together. He drops a several blue berries in the batter and stirred it up.

"JARVIS, be a nice guy and call doctor Bruce up to join us." Tony tells the AI.

"Yes sir."

"Tony, I don't think this a good idea." Steve warned, feeling worried about how the Doctor will react.

"Oh loosely up Captain, it'll be worse if we walk on eggshells." Nicolette replies, starting to clean up the pink icing on the counter.

"Is everything-"

"SUCCESS!" Tony shouts gleefully as Bruce walks into the kitchen, splattering Bruce's face with the batter.

"Is that muffin batter?" Bruce asked slowly.

"Yep. With blueberries." Tony answered.

Bruce takes off his glasses and wipes them off slowly. The tension is thick enough you could cut it with a sharpened steak knife. Then, Bruce grabs the bowl of flour and dumps it on Tony's head. Bruce smiles in victory while putting his glasses back on. Tony coughs and tries to dust the flour off of him.

"Oh it's on green man." He says, grabbing another bowl of blueberries.

* * *

Nicolette sighs as she wipes up the last of the flour off the counter. She wipes her forehead off with the back of her hand and dips the sponge into the sink to wash it off.

"Oh, you're still up?" Bruce asks as he walks into the kitchen. It is late at night and by now he would be expecting he to be at home in bed, not cleaning.

"Figured the kitchen could use a good scrub down before I head home. Besides, the icing on the ceiling wasn't going to clean itself." She smiles gently at him. "What about you?"

"Late night research." He answers, yawing tiredly. "Just came up to make more tea."

"Oh, the tea pot still hot. I had made some a few minutes ago actually." She tells him, the smile staying in place. He refills his mug, sitting in the chair at the table and taking a sip of it.

"You look like you could use something to eat." She says drying her hands off. She picks up the plate of muffins and holds it out to him. "How about a muffin? Fresh batch seeing as my others were used to pelt people." He chuckled, remembering the food fight earlier that day.

"In my defense, Thor and Steve started throwing whip cream at us. I was just keeping you out of the line of fire."

"My hero." She teases, a laugh escaping her lips. He picks up a muffin and takes a tiny bite.

"Wow. These are good." Bruce compliments, smiling at her.

"Thanks, it's a secret family recipe."

"Must be a well-kept secret. I have never tasted muffins this amazing." She smiles at him again, tossing the sponge into the sink.

"Well I have to go. See you tomorrow." She tells him. He picks up the plate of muffins and says good night before disappearing back into the lab.

Nicolette sighed. "Well… The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Goodnight JARVIS."

"Goodnight Miss Brit." The AI replies.

* * *

Author's Note: Yay! another chapter all done and ready to go. Awesome Thanks to my Beta Editor *hands her platefulls of cookies* enjoy


	4. Chapter 3 undidentified substances

**Chapter 3: Unidentified substances**

"You want me to what?" Nicolette asks Pepper in disbelief.

"It will be fun. You'll get to know your boss and work with your idol." Pepper replies, trying to make it sound better to her.

"But Pepper…I doubt he would want to work with me." She points out.

"I talked to Tony. He's fine with it and could use help with his new suit. Someone's has to help throw stuff away. Last I checked you won first place in that baseball throwing game at that baseball game you dragged me to last year." Pepper states as a matter of fact. "I promise you it will be fun." Nicolette sighs in defeat.

"Fine." Pepper smiles.

"Good. Now I have to finish packing, I will check on you in a few hours."

"…You sound like my mother." Nicolette said. Pepper rolls her eyes.

"I'll see you later."

Tony, Bruce, and Nicolette stood around the metal table that held the newest Iron Man suit.

"Just to be clear, you are the lab assistant. You do want I tell you, and you speak when spoken to." Tony told her. She nods, bored and annoyed.

"Now sit and stay put." Tony says.

* * *

Nicolette sighs as she gave up trying to balance her pencil on her pointer finger. She looked up to find Bruce and Tony in a discussion on whether or not making the suit blend into the scenery with an automatic cloaking device. Tony runs a hand through his hair.

"Let's just work on your thing for now." He told Bruce.

"Nico. Follow." Tony commands, motioning for her to follow them.

"…I'm not a dog." She mutters, but follows him to the next lab over. She sat on the designated stool and began messing with her pencil again. That got boring after about twenty minutes before she gave up and began to look around the lab.

Nicolette slides off of the stool and examines the many, many test tubes that lined the tables and walls. She picks one up and studied it. It doesn't look like any chemical she had seen before, it was an almost clear red color with no smell, and relatively no texture.

"Dr. Banner, what's this?" She asks, holding up the flask to said scientists.

"Oh that's uhh… What was that?" he answered trying to recall. "Just put it down for now. I'll probably remember it later."

She nodded and set it down and both scientists returned to work. Nicolette sighs again and takes her place on the stool. She runs her fingers over the countertop, glancing curiously at the flask. She used her pencil to move it closer only to move it to close to the edge and making it fall onto the floor. It broke, the red liquid pooling around the broken glass.

"I told you to not to touch anything." Tony says, walking over.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident!" She apologizes, looking at the mess on the floor. "I got curious… I didn't know it would break." She gets up and bends down to help pick up the broken glass.

"Ow. God that hurt."

"What happened?" Tony asks.

"I cut myself on the glass." She answers, staring at the tiny wound.

"Okay. Well we're going to have to disinfect the wound and figure out what exactly this was incase its harmful." Tony tells the two. "Bruce, you help her get cleaned up and I will find out what this is." Bruce nods.

"Come on. There's a first aid kit up in the kitchen." He tells her. Nicolette follows him up to the kitchen and sits on the bar stool while he grabs the first aid kit.

"Well I'll probably get fired now." She says. Bruce shakes his head slightly in disagreement.

"Tony may be rough around the edges, but he won't fire you for this."

"How do you know?" she asks.

"Tony and I have been friends for a couple years now and I can say that I know him pretty well. He won't fire you for spilling an unidentified substance. He's most likely more concerned about the unidentified substance and how to handle possible dangers of it." He answers, smiling at her.

"Right…" she replies, unconvinced. Nicolette winced as he applied the disinfectant to the wound. He bandaged her hand up quickly and puts the first aid kit away.

"How about some tea?" He asks.

"Sure." She answers. Bruce turns and puts it on the teapot before moving to the cupboard. "Is your hand alright?" He asks. She replies with a swift nod.

"Its fine thank you." He sits down across from her.

"Can I ask you a question?" she asks. He gives her a questioning look, but nods for her to continue.

"Why are you trying to find a cure for….. To sedate the other guy?" She asks, just as tony walks into the kitchen.

"Great news. The unidentified liquid was just water and red food dye." Tony announces before Bruce could finish. "Nothing to be worried about, so let's all get back to work. Nico, you can help me with my suit."

"Really? No sidelining?" she asks suspiciously.

"Nah. Let's go, Bruce, stay classy." He answers, grinning. Bruce gave her a thumbs up as she follows him down to the lab.

* * *

"Miss Potts, I didn't hear you come in." Bruce said, looking up from his book.

"I was just coming to see how things were going with Nicolette and Tony." She replies, offering him a small smile. "Are they still in the lab?" she asks.

"They've been down there for at least six hours now." Pepper sighs.

"Well, Nicolette is officially off the clock now so I will go get her." She tells him, walking out of his room and towards the lab. Pepper gets onto the elevator and presses the button for the basement lab. She arrives moments later only to hear a loud bang.

"Everything alright?" she asks poking her head into Tony's lab. Tony and Nicolette look up from where they are examining his newest suit. Tony smiles at Pepper.

"Hey pretty lady." He says, walking over to her. "Nico was just helping me test the new suit."

"Ah. So that was what the loud bang was." She replies.

"Sorry. That was my fault." Nicolette apologizes. "And I should get going. I will see you in the morning Pepper, Mr. Stark."

"Thanks for your help." Tony tells her, a little more focused of Pepper than Nicolette.

"It was fun." She replies before leaving the lab.

Nicolette smiles and says a good night to Bruce as she left. She smiles the entire time until she is out of the building, today had been a pretty good day. Maybe everything would be fine after all.


	5. Chapter 4: the past and secrets

Chapter 4: The Past and Secrets

"Alright. Stop knocking. I'm coming, I'm coming." Nicolette nearly growled out as she made her way to her front door.

She opened the door and frowned. "What do you want?"

"Nic. Is that anyway to greet a friend?"

"We're not friends Peter. What do you want?" she asked yawning.

"The agency wants you back. We need you." He answered.

"And they sent you to bring me back?" she asked.

He shrugged and grinned. "If it means seeing you again, so be it."

She rolled her eyes. "Goodbye Peter."

She went to shut the door when he stuck his foot out stopping the action. "At least look into the matter okay? The big man himself asked me to talk to you."

"Fine. Now get your foot out of my door." She told him.

He complied and she half slammed the door in his face. She pinched the bridge of her nose to fight the oncoming headache and got dressed for work. Pepper decided to teach her how to handle the press when Tony was in the news.

Nicolette pulled on a light purple sweater and a pair of faded blue jeans opting for causal instead of business seeing as they would be enjoying a day at the park. She slid on her black heel boots and pulled her hair into a bun keeping it in place with a clip and slid her bag over her shoulder before grabbing her keys and leaving.

Nicolette sighed as she sat at the kitchen counter. She was still waiting on Pepper who was now two hours late. She pulled her phone out of her bag and checked her phone. Five more messages from Peter, and none from Pepper.

"Ms. Britt, if I may. Dr. Banner is passed out in his lab downstairs." JARVIS announced.

"Come again?" she asked.

"Dr. Banner passed out in his lab." The AI answered.

Nicolette forgetting her phone quickly took the stairs to the lab and punched in the code for Bruce's lab. She ran over and knelt down next to his body and checked the plus on his neck. It was steady so he wasn't dying.

She looked around before spotting a large bucket. She quickly filled it with water and said a quick apology before splashing a good size amount in his face to wake him up.

Bruce nearly shot up and banged his head on the desk in front of him. He groaned.

"Oh thank God you're alive." Nicolette breathed relieved.

"Did you pour water on me?" he asked.

"It woke you up didn't it?" she answered. "How long have you been in the lab?"

"I don't know a few hours."

"Actually, three days four hours and forty five minutes." JARVIS supplied.

Bruce blushed embarrassingly. "Not that long."

She helped him up. "Shower and change." She told him ushering him upstairs.

Bruce walked into the kitchen in a pair of jeans and a button down green shirt just as Nicolette placed a plate of pancakes and bacon and eggs with a fresh cup of green tea on the counter.

"You didn't have to do that." Bruce said.

She shrugged. "I doubt you've eaten much…plus it's the least I can do after dumping water on you." She told him.

He sat down at the counter and took a sip of his tea before taking a bite of the pancakes.

"Wow. These are really good." He said.

"Oh good. I wasn't sure if I used enough batter." She replied washing the last of the dishes. She placed the bowl in the dish rack and wiped her hands on a towel before picking up her own tea and sitting down.

"What's this?" Bruce asked picking up the envelope on the counter.

"Oh that's nothing. Just a little something for Pepper." she lied taking the envelope from him. She tucked it away in her purse and smiled. "It's a surprise though. So don't tell her."

"Don't tell me what?" Pepper asked as she and Tony walked into the kitchen.

"Nothing. It's a secret." Nicolette answered.

"Well let's go. We have a lot to go over." Pepper told her.

Nicolette nodded and got up. Bruce smiled at her before she followed Pepper out.

"Did I miss something?" Tony asked swiping a piece of his bacon.

"Not really." Bruce answered.

"Were you being nice to the intern?" he asked.

"She made me breakfast because I passed out in the lab. No big deal Tony." Bruce answered with a shrug. "And now I plan to take a nap. So I will see you later."

Tony watched his friend walk away. "JARVIS?"

"Yes sir?" the AI asked.

"Was Dr. Banner lying?" he asked.

"No sir. He collapsed in his lab and Miss Brit saw to it that he was fed to keep his energy up." The AI answered.

"Thank you JARVIS. I'll be in my lab."

* * *

Author's note: Uh oh Tony Stark has one of his famous plans, stay tuned for more :)

Thanks to my beta, youre a rockstar


	6. Chapter 5: Phase One

Chapter 5: Phase One:

"Tony. What are you doing?" Pepper asks as she watches him over the brim of her newspaper. They decided to go out for breakfast, Tony deeming it a day off for everyone.

Bruce had declined the invitation saying the he needed to work more on his "project" and Nicolette said she had to run some errands, leaving the two of them to spend some nice time together. Only Tony was more interested in his napkin then he was in his breakfast.

Pepper puts her paper down and stares at Tony.

"What are you doing?" She asks him.

"Bruce likes Nicolette. I know he does." He answers.

"And what does that have to do with anything?" She asks.

"Well she obviously likes him back." He states.

"And this is your business because…?"

"I want Bruce to have what we have. Nicolette obviously seems to care for Bruce and he deserves to be happy and have someone who cares for him."

"So you plan to get the two together? As in a relationship?" Pepper asks slowly.

"Exactly." He answers. "Would you like to help?" Pepper sighs.

"Do I really have a choice in the matter?"

"Nope." He answers. "Now for phase one."

"You and I are going out for drinks." Tony announces.

Bruce looks up from his mug of tea and blinks.

"Why?"

"Guys night. We're going out for drinks, you and me, so grab your coat and let's go." Tony answers. "Come on Banner. We're wasting time."

Bruce zips his coat as they step out into the crisp November air. Tony shoves his hands into his pockets and sighs.

"So what do you think of Nicolette?" Tony asks. Bruce shrugs.

"She's nice. Why do you ask?"

"Nice how?" Tony asks.

"I don't know. She's a nice girl. She obviously cares for the people she likes and wants them to be in good health." Bruce answers.

"Do you like her?" Tony asks.

"Where is this coming from?"

"Just answer the question Banner." Bruce gives him a slightly annoyed look.

"I thought I answered the question before."

"Just humor me. Do you like her? Yes or no." Bruce lets out an exasperated sigh.

"Yes Tony. I like her. Happy? I just don't see myself getting into a relationship though. Not after what happened..." Tony lays a comforting hand on Bruce's shoulder.

"You know Betty doesn't blame you for what happened."

"But I blame myself. I just don't want to hurt some I could care deeply for."

Tony nods.

"Hey. Why don't skip the drinks, get some Chinese food go back and just experiment with different chemicals like we did that time we got drunk?"

"Tony, I think the only reason we did that was because we were drunk." Bruce points out, a chuckle escaping his lips.

"Come on. It'll be fun." Tony replies.

"Alright. But if anything catches on fire or melts I'm holding you responsible." Bruce replies.

"Deal."

"You wanted to see me Mr. Stark?" Nicolette asks as she steps into his lab, the door sliding closed behind her with a slight click.

"Huh… Oh, yes! Hand me that flask will you?" Tony answers.

She nods and handed it to him.

"You know of Dr. Banner's condition right?" He asks.

"His exposure to gamma radiation? Of course." She answers.

"So you know of his turning into a giant green rage monster?" She nods.

"I admire him for trying to find a cure but I don't think trying to suppress it is such a great idea."

"I completely agree with you." Tony answers, nodding his head a few times. "Do you like Dr. Banner." He asks, smirking in her direction

"Come again?" She asks, giving him a look of disbelief.

"Do you like Dr. Banner?" Tony replies, leaning back and waiting for her answer.

"Well yes. I mean I admire his research and his work, he's quite intelligent." She answers, obviously trying to avoid the question. Tony wipes his hands off with a towel.

"Well that's a give in. But I meant do you _like_ him?" Tony tries to make an emphasis with his hands, making it as obvious as possible what the real question is. Nicolette blushes.

"Well I mean, he's quite attractive and well built... But why do you ask?"

"You know scientists. Curiosity."

"Right..." She trails off. "Is there anything else you need?" She asks, wanting to be out of there before he can ask any more questions.

"Nope." He waves her out and turned towards the window looking into Bruce's office.

"JARIVIS. Get Thor on the phone will you." He demands.

"Of course sir. Shall I direct the call to the penthouse?" The AI asked.

"Yes. Thank you JARVIS."

Tony whistled as he took the elevator to his suits. A devious plan forming in his head.

* * *

AN:Ta Da, sorry for the long wait. school just started and it has been a bit brutal. Special thanks to my Beta, you are totally awesomely awesome

*hands her cookies* and i hope you guys enjoy ^.^


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